The Wall
by IvanBraginski684
Summary: Bertholdt and Reiner during the Female Titan arc. They've been best friends for a long time, but Reiner's personality disorder might ruin it. Bad summary is bad. I promise the story is more intriguing than this. Rated M for language.
1. The Wall - Chapter One

**The Wall**

 ***spoilers for season 1***

Ymir looked at the tree next to hers in the forest. A tall, dark-haired man stood against the tree, staring at the ground with an angry expression. Bertholdt. She'd never seen him angry before, but she decided to just forget it. After all, she still had no idea where Christa was.

 _"We are not soldiers, Reiner. Why can't you get that?"_

 _"It doesn't matter what we are! They're our friends."_

 _"Who? The people that will kill us if they find out what we've done?"_

 _"They won't. T-"_

 _"If they don't kill us, then we'll be stuck in captivity forever, Reiner. I don't want that!"_

 _"Well I don't, either!"_

 _"If they ever find out what happened, or who we're after, then it's over. So stop saying they're your friends."_

 _"You talk to them like friends would, so why can't I?"_

 _"I know I talk to them; it'll be weird if I didn't. But I know they're not actually friends."_

 _"Whatever, Bertl."_

His argument with Reiner from before they all left the walls rang through his ears. Something was just not right with him anymore.

As of right now, the trainees were scanning the grounds for titans from the trees. Down below, were the horses.

The goal was to get to Eren Jaeger's basement, where possible reasoning as to why the titans and titan shifters exist could be. Eren had the only key.

However, _our_ goal was to capture Eren, that was the whole point as to why we followed Eren into the Survey Corps. The argument that ensued with joining the Corps was because Reiner said he joined because they were our friends, not because of our mission.

 _He's losing it or something,_ Bertholdt thought, clenching his fists and staring at his feet intently.

 _At least Annie's keeping to it...She's messed up Erwin's plan so much that everyone was confused and took to the trees. No one has any idea what Levi's doing, but I can count on her. She's probably running right after them._

Bertholdt looked up.

 _What if Reiner isn't the only one I have to be worried about? What if something goes wrong? What if she gets hurt, what if someone figures her out?_

Bertholdt cleared those thoughts from his mind. _It will work. The plan will work._

However, things did not work.

 _I knew Levi was strong and quick, but... Fast enough to take on her by himself?_ He thought to himself as the Corps rode back to the Walls as fast as they could. Everyone was shaken up by the Female Titan, and so was Bertholdt, but for a different reason.

 _We failed._

 _We failed, we failed, we_ _ **failed.**_

 _Now what? Annie's probably safe; back with the Military Police inside Wall Sina. But what do we do now? How am I going to talk to her to form a new strategy? People are going to start searching for-_

Bertholdt was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of another cadet's voice.

"You okay, man?" It was Jean. He looked...surprisingly calm for all that had happened in the past few days...weeks?

"Reiner told me that you all got a good look at that titan... I should be asking you if _you're_ okay." He changed the subject, after all, what excuse could he give him?

"I'm...fine..." He suddenly turned his horse's reins and went back to where he was supposed to be.

 _I wonder how he'd be if Marco was still here._

His eyes widened when he caught himself thinking about them again. They were best friends, well, Marco really being Jean's only friend. After the titans got in, Jean found him dead.

He'd never seen Jean sad before. Or not being an asshole, really.

He hasn't smiled since Marco's death.

Bertholdt shook those thoughts from his head; he can't start caring about the others, else he'll end up like Reiner.

"TITANS!" A distant voice from behind called out.

He looked back to see two people on horseback, one carrying a body, being chased down by two abnormal titans.

"Oh shit, they're fast-" He heard Jean shout.

He looked about for the commander and the captain. They decide to fight or to keep going.

After no intensions of stopping were made, he looked back to see the titans gaining ground on them. Not too long after, he saw the back of the wagons open, and dead bodies rolling out. Some were being crushed by the titans' feet.

Eventually, we were able to get away, and not long after, we arrived back at Wall Maria.

Bertholdt never looked up. He felt the burning looks from the townsfolk on him and the others. They knew the Corps failed. They knew _he_ failed, but they didn't know how...yet.

Bertholdt was sitting upright on his bunk, his leg moving up and down franctically. He had skipped dinner because he was so nervous that he thought he'd puke just thinking about eating.

Reiner was probably outside still, staring at the surprisingly calm land. At night, the titans aren't very active, so we're at least safe then. He remembered how everyone used to do that. Nowadays, everyone enjoys what little sleep we can get.

 _If_ we can sleep.

Just then, Reiner opened the door to their room and walked past Bertholdt without saying a word. He hadn't spoken much since they were on the horses.

"Well... Now what?" Bertholdt asked.

"We sleep." He replied, climbing to his side of the bed. The upper bunk belonged to Eren and Armin.

"Reiner... L-"

"I'm not arguing with you anymore about... _that._ Okay?"

Bertholdt sighed. _He's going to be useless soon._

"What?"

Bertholdt turned to look at him for a second. _Did I just say that out loud? Shit._ He thought.

"Reiner, I-" He started, but the look in his eyes made him stop.

"If I'm so useless to you, then why do you keep me around?"

Bertholdt thought, but no real reason came up. Other than them being friends for the past twelve years.

"Rei-"

"Goodnight, Bertholdt." He said bitterly, turning to face the wall. Bertholdt tried to apologize again, but Armin opened the door and walked quietly into the room.

He passed them and started to climb up the bunk, but stopped to look at Bertholdt.

"Is he awake?" Armin whispered. Bertholdt merely shrugged, too caught up in his own emotions to really care enough to give an answer.

"Did he say anything?" Armin asked.

"About?"

He sighed and stepped down from the ladder. "I...think I know who the Female Titan is..."

"What? Who?" Bertholdt's eyes widened. _Please tell me he didn't figure it out._

"She didn't kill me. So I know that she's one of us-"

 _Shit._

"She knows how to fight, too. I _saw_ her clearly plan out a counterstrike on Ness and Siss. Her stance right before-"

 _Shit. Shit. Shit._

"It reminds me of... Annie."

 _ **Fuck.**_


	2. The Wall - Chapter Two

**The Wall**

 _ **Fuck.**_

 __"How can you be so sure?" Bertholdt asked. _If he really knows, then what am I going to do?_

"Well, isn't what I said a reasonable enough start? It's all we really have..."

Bertholdt remained quiet, looking at the space between his legs.

Armin began to climb up the ladder again. "Hey. If it's her, I'm sorry. I know you guys were close and stuff..." He awkwardly climbed up and settled into his bed above them.

Bertholdt felt Reiner turn over and look at him. He ran his hands through his hair, clenching his fists and tensing his jaw. Reiner tried to remove Bertholdt's hands from his head, but he jerked away. He stood up and left the room without saying a word.

Reiner felt like he was waiting for hours for him to come back, but he never did. So he decided to go look for him.

Before he got to the door, Armin sat up in the bed. "Is he okay? I knew you guys were like...sort of friends with her..."

Reiner just nodded and left the room quietly. No one was supposed to leave their rooms at this hour, so as he snuck through the corridor he held his breath.

Once he got outside with no problems, he looked around. If he's not here, then there's only one place else he'd go to.

Sure enough, he looked into the distance to see Bertholdt's tall figure standing over the cliff, looking out into the dark horizon. He approached him loud enough so he wouldn't scare him. People were surprised at how easily he was frightened; he _was_ six foot two.

"You okay?" Reiner asked half-heartedly; he already knew the answer.

"Do you think I am?" Bertholdt sat himself down on the cold grass, staring at the moon.

Reiner sat beside him quietly.

Both of them thought the same thing.

 _Now what?_

Sorry that this chapter is literally like 6 words long. I promise the next one will be much longer and not so boring.

Also I forgot to put notes on the first chapter but basically I apologized for my last /failed/ attempt at a story and explained that I'll be finishing this one, whether I have the motivation for it or not.

Anyways, sorry again that this chapter was so short and half assed; I'm having computer issues so I don't know when the next chapter will be uploaded, but hopefully soon!

Have a great day guys~


	3. The Wall - Chapter Three

**The Wall**

 *** Possible spoilers for Season 2 from now on ***

 _Now what?_

"Well, do you have any idea as to what we're going to do now?" Reiner asked.

Bertholdt didn't answer for a minute. "Why do you care? You didn't even want to finish this not too long ago."

Reiner just shook his head, annoyed. "Well I want to help now."

"But for how long?" Bertholdt snapped. Reiner stared at him confused. "How long until you change your mind again? Before you think they're our friends again? How long until I can't trust you anymore..." He said the last one quietly.

Reiner didn't really have an answer. His mind did change so easily, but he couldn't control it for some reason.

Bertholdt just shook his head and stood up. "I'm going back."

As he started walking away, Reiner needed to say something. Just anything.

"Bertl-" Bertholdt stopped and glanced sideways back at him. "We've been friends forever... I don't want to lose you, especially if we're gonna lose Annie. I know I'm practically a liability, but I'll try my best from now on, okay?" He got up and ran up to the taller boy as he spoke.

Bertholdt expression softened and he almost smiled.

 _Almost_ was good enough for Reiner.

"Hey, if something happens to Annie, we'll get her back." Then Reiner smiled. "After that, you should tell her how you feel about her."

Bertholdt finally smiled.

 _He_ _ **has**_ _been my friend forever; I can't just_ _ **not**_ _be anymore. If he really tries, maybe we can find a way to get Annie and capture Eren. Then we can get the fuck away from the others and back to our homeland. After all, we can't go back without that hot-headed kid._ Bertholdt thought. Reiner almost always knows what he's thinking about, even if Bertholdt keeps a neutral expression. By neutral, he means nervous.

"You're always nervous Bertl. She'll be okay, and we'll get him."

"Yeah, I know." He replied.

"We'll be home before you know it."

 _/almost/_ minor yaoi

"Reiner! Why are you running so fast? We have plenty of time!" Bertholdt gasped, trying to keep up with the faster blonde, who was racing through the forest.

He stopped and turned around to laugh at the taller boy.

They were on their way to Wall Maria for their attempt to let the titans into the city. Afterwards, they were to sneak into the city and blend in until they figured out who Eren Jaeger was and how they could get him.

"We're not being timed, you know." Reiner said once Bertholdt caught up with him.

"I know, but we have all day to get there, and I don't want to be around humans for too long, okay?" Bertholdt replied.

Reiner crossed his arms. "Well we don't even know what he looks like, so how are we gonna find him fast?"

Bertholdt shrugged and asked if they could just walk the rest of the way.

Reiner nodded and started walking as fast as he could without running.

"Really?!" Bertholdt had to laugh. Reiner turned back to laugh with him, but stopped when he accidentally tripped over a tree root and landed straight on his face. He sat up quickly, and felt dirt and grass on his face fall off. He wouldn't look back as he wiped it all off.

Bertholdt stopped by his side, not laughing, but also not _not_ laughing. He held out his hand and asked if he was okay.

Reiner just nodded and took his hand.

Bertholdt pulled a little _too_ hard and they ended up closer than expected, but he backed up as soon as he noticed. Reiner rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

 _We've been having a lot of awkward moments like this. Why?_ Reiner thought.

They began to walk again; their awkward moment still lingering. That was, until Reiner spoke up again.

"You know, maybe when we see Annie again, you should actually say hi to her. She seems nice."

"Oh yeah, sure. Nice enough to kill me." He replied.

"She's eleven, what can she do to us?"

"Reiner, we're twelve, _and_ she's probably stronger than both of us."

"Oh c'mon. You're just exaggerating."

Bertholdt just shrugged. "You don't know what her titan looks like, so how could you know?"

"How could you? And I doubt it's bigger than yours." He laughed and then did his best 'Bertholdt-Titan' impression, as he called it. Stomping around and kicking rocks along the road.

Bertholdt rolled his eyes and suddenly got an idea.

Running as fast as he could, he braced himself before slamming into Reiner. They tumbled over each other and landed on the ground, with Bertholdt on top.

"Ow! What'd you do that for?" Reiner asked, one hand on the back of his head and the other trapped in between their bodies.

"That's my impression of you, even when you're not in titan form." Bertholdt replied.

Bertholdt started to get up, but Reiner stopped him once his other arm was free.

"Bertl... Can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, yeah, but can I...uh, get up first?" Reiner let go of him and they both sat up.

"Uh..." Reiner sighed but didn't really know how to ask what he wanted to ask. "Do you ever... Get...feelings? Like...weird ones? And they go away sometimes...but they come back?"

Bertholdt was pretty sure that he knew what Reiner was talking about, but he asked anyways. "When?"

Reiner bit his lip a little but didn't want to answer.

"Like when we're together?" Bertholdt asked after a minute.

Reiner slowly nodded, but then realized that Bertholdt probably got them too if he knew what he was asking about. "What do you think they are? I don't really understand them..."

 _So Reiner gets them, too?_

"I have an idea, but I don't know-"

"What? What do you think it means? Tell me-" Reiner whined.

"Okay-" He practically felt the awkwardness around him. "I think that you get it...when you like someone?" He said the last part almost like a question.

Reiner was confused for a few seconds, but quickly got the idea.

"You mean, when you _like_ someone?"

Bertholdt nodded slowly.

"Do you get them, too?"

He nodded again, this time even slower.

They sat in a complete, uncomfortable silence for what felt like forever before Reiner suggested they continued to walk. Bertholdt agreed and they got up.

After maybe ten minutes of walking in silence, Reiner stopped and quickly whirled around. Before Bertholdt could say anything, Reiner kissed him.

It didn't last very long, a couple seconds maybe, and it was almost _not_ even a kiss because their mouths were barely connected. Reiner basically missed. After all, Bertholdt was still taller than him.

All of the sudden Reiner pulled away and continued on his way as if nothing happened.

 _What the hell Reiner?_

Bertholdt just shook his head and followed.

Well, here's the third chapter. Not really sure how I feel about this story. But anyways, I got the idea of them walking through the forest after rewatching the first episode(?) and seeing the younger Reiner and Bertholdt /and Annie/ in the city. It was interesting to me since it was only shown in the anime.

I guess I'm glad that I'm writing again, so hopefully my motivation stays up as well. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the story and have a great day~


	4. The Wall - Chapter Four

**The Wall**

 _"We'll be home before you know it."_

 _Oh, Reiner, I wish we could just leave right now. If only we could just get Annie and then escape together. But we can't. She's all the way in the Military Police, and we're in the Scouting Legion. We were right next to our enemy all damn day, but now we can't do anything to him because he's still under Levi's supervision. All of our chances to get him are gone now because Annie- because we- failed._

Bertholdt snapped out of his thoughts when Reiner shook his shoulder. "Hey, we've gotta go... Eren and his friends are after Annie. The rest of the Scouts are supposed to be on look out-"

"I know." He sat bitterly. The last few days have brought out Bertholdt's other self, the one that refused to talk to anyone and keeps an angry or unamused face on all the time.

 _He can be such a hypocrite sometimes. Telling me not to act conspicuous, then sitting around angrily staring at everything. Everyone knows that's not like him, and with what's going on with Annie, someone's going to figure that it's linked,_ Reiner thought.

They used their 3DMG to catch up with the others, who were all hiding within the buildings or on the rooftops quietly. The plan was to get Annie underground, where she would be ambushed and unable to turn into her titan. But if that failed, we were to capture Annie by taking her by surprise from the rooftops.

After a while of nothing happening, the four of them appeared down below. Bertholdt actually got a view of them, and hoped that maybe she'd notice him and realize something was wrong before it's too late.

But she didn't. They kept walking. No matter what happens now, she's probably going to be caught. Maybe-

Suddenly, Connie appeared next to him and pulled him away from the side of the roof. "What the hell are you doing? She could have seen you?!" He whispered.

"S-sorry! I just...can't believe it..." _More like I can't believe she's falling for this. Get out of here before it's too late!_

"I can't either, but be careful!" He went back to his spot, which was about halfway through the roof. Reiner was on the other side, and he and Bertholdt exchanged glances quickly.

Annie disappeared from his view, and it was quiet until a gun shot was heard.

That was the signal to ambush her if something went wrong.

 _Yes! She figured it out, but...? How is this going to end?!_

* **MAJOR TIME SKIP***

"Reiner, it's over..."

"It's not over; what about Annie?"

"They've got her. Even if she's in that crystal, they'll keep her underground forever..."

Reiner looked at his best friend, who he has been with for a long time. He's practically given up. No, not practically.

But then again, Reiner has given up to.

Reiner sighed, and sat down next to Bertholdt on the cold grass. They didn't speak for a long time.

"Bertholdt..." Reiner finally broke the silence as a cold breeze swept through the barren plain they rested on.

He made a noise of acknowledgement, but didn't look at him.

"Do you really... _like_ Annie?" He asked.

Bertholdt tilted his head a little, not saying anything as he thought. Reiner tried to read his expression, but he just couldn't. He was having these kinds of problems nowadays.

Bertholdt sighed, but eventually nodded.

Reiner looked back at the distant horizon, where the sun was slowly sinking into the ground. He briefly remembered the time when they were kids, running through the forest towards the walls. He remembered kissing Bertholdt, but quickly shook that memory away.

Now they were grown, and trying to escape from the walls.

He got up, offering a hand to Bertholdt. He slowly took it, and stood up besides him.

 _He's always been taller than me, even though I'm a little older._ Reiner thought.

Bertholdt trudged through the grass, towards the horizon. Reiner had nothing else to do except follow.

 **END?**

 **NOTES**

I am terribly sorry about how shitty this is for how long it took. My computer's keyboard needed to be fixed, and I never had the chance to do just that. But anyways, this may or may not be the last chapter of this story, because I'm going to start an OC fanfiction soon! ^w^ I'm terrible at multi-tasking, so that's why this one will be updated very slowly, if at all.

Have a great day, guys! And thanks for staying for so long!


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